A man protests against a voter ID at a polling station. Results of local elections. and some were denied for lack of acceptable ID.
On Thursday, voters in local elections across England were required for the first time to show photo ID before collecting their ballots.
Passports, driver's licenses and blue badges were among the allowed IDs, as were free certificates that people could apply for before voting.
But the move was widely criticized and concerns were expressed about disenfranchisement of voters. John Pullinger, Chairman of the Electoral Commission, said he had witnessed people being stopped from voting and said that his investigation «will not affect». problems that led to this situation.
The commission will collect data and details from polling station officials, parties, campaigners, voters and observers, Mr. Pullinger said.
He added that there would also be a survey of those who voted and did not vote in elections to more than 8,000 council seats in 230 local governments, he added.
2023 local election results
Mr Pullinger said that the commission will publish a report. initial review in June, adding: «In September we will put together a really detailed full report that will make recommendations on what we need to do to address any issues that people have.»
Mr Pullinger said on BBC Radio 4's Today program on Friday: «First, we need to gather data before we get a really good picture of the impact of voter ID, but I was out of the house yesterday and I saw how people were denied, and we know that some people couldn't vote because they didn't have the right documents.
"Everyone who has the right to vote should be able to cast their vote, and we need to sort out the problems they're having"
On whether to expand the number of accepted forms of ID, Mr. Pullinger said: «Once we have made our assessment, policy makers will have an opportunity to form an opinion on whether something should be changed.» or not"
On Thursday evening, Chris Heaton-Harris, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, defended the new rules, saying similar measures have been in place in Northern Ireland for 20 years. .
He said, «That's very good, it means you can be completely sure that your choices are well-checked and safe.»
"And I don't think so, really, given that it's a relatively big change for our policy in England that it could cause any of the big problems that people have warned about.
"I think most people just took it as expected."
Local elections: 23__control-compare
Paul Scully, Minister for Science, also supported the changes, but acknowledged that the government would need to assess their impact after local elections.
Responding to a question about the Electoral Commission's statement on the BBC's Election 2023 programme, Mr Scully said, “I think the head of the counting department said he thought it worked. Fine. It didn't have much of an effect.
"But we need to see. We obviously have to see after that.»
An election commission spokesman said on Thursday: «Our initial assessment is that the election went well overall.»
“Across the country, votes were cast throughout the day and in accordance with the law. This is largely due to the dedication of the election administration administrators who have worked hard to prepare for today and implement this new measure.
"However, confidence in the big picture should not be overlooked by other impacts that could only be discovered through detailed data collection and analysis in the coming weeks.
"We already know from our research that the ID requirement was a big problem for some groups in society, and that as a result, some people were unfortunately unable to vote today.
"This it will be important to understand the extent of this impact and its causes before a final opinion can be reached on how the policy has worked in practice and what can be learned for future elections."
Acceptable. voter ID forms
The change was tested regionally before a nationwide rollout in Thursday's elections. It will take effect in the UK general election from October.
The policy is opposed by Labor, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party, while the government says the change is necessary to reduce electoral fraud.< /p>
Tom Break of Unlock Democracy, who leads a coalition of groups opposed to the policy, including the Electoral Reform Society, said: «Today was a black day for British democracy.»
across the country confirms our worst fears about the impact of harmful policies, which have been exacerbated by the disorderly conduct of them.”
"One voter applied too much, but early estimates indicate that many thousands of people were denied the right to vote.» , said there were «many anecdotal reports». people who can't vote, but "it's too early to assess how the voter ID rollout went".
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